Category Archives: Service and Missions

The Year’s Hit Posts in 2017

Posted by Caleb Coy on

A look back on the previous year, and here are some of the top hit posts:

Cormac McCarthy Narrates Minecraft
famed author of No Country For Old Men reviews the game

Why the Civil War Happened
an in-depth analysis

Will the Religious Right Wake Up on the Right Side of the Bed?
an op-ed in the Warblr Continue reading →

3 Must-Read Articles I’m Sharing

Posted by Caleb Coy on

This week I found myself unable to write a post of my own, because three different articles keep coming back to me that I ultimately decided I needed to share. I think they are all very timely and necessary.

  1. from Ed Setzer at Christianity Today

    Michael Flynn Isn’t the Only Guilty One

    This article calls Christians to ask ourselves why we allow ourselves to become targets of fake news, and why our zeal is often hijacked by our gullibility. We embarrass ourselves, hurt our witness, hurt the reputation of others, and lose our mission when we are perpetually duped by fake news stories.
  2. from Jack Wilkie of Focus Press

    A Dangerous Trend in Churches of Christ

    This article, from a conservative apologetic publication, challenges Churches of Christ as children of the Restoration Movement to consider their own plea for unity. I agree that many have become rigidly guilty of defining our salvation by our own rightness, pushing salvation by precision obedience and making the burden too hard to bear.
  3. from Steve Gardner at Authentic Theology

    The Boston Declaration: 5 Problems With Them and How to Fix Them

    This blog post examines the very timely Boston Declaration crying out against “the corruption of U.S. Christianity.” As the author points out, the declaration did not do well enough to reach its primary audience, patriotic evangelicals. He lays out a method for addressing the audience in a way that will better gain their respect, and maybe even change their hearts.
I urge all Christians to please take the time to read these this week. Thank you and God bless.

Reading Flannery O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person”: Part II

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Part II—All the Colorful, Useless Peafowl
[Read part I here]

In part two of O’Connor’s story, Mrs. Shortley has left the farm and Mrs. McIntyre is left with the displaced Pole and her black workers. We’re given more insight into her character through her conversations with the older farmhand, Astor. While Astor remembers well her husband, the Judge, Mrs. McIntyre is haunted by her late husband. Astor has noticed two things: The decline of the peacocks and the incline of Mrs. McIntyre’s greed.
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Reading Flannery O’Connor’s “The Displaced Person”: Part I

Posted by Caleb Coy on

For fans of Flannery O’Connor, “The Displaced Person” is a a short story that occupies a special place, not only because it exhibits her love for peacocks, but because of its more overt religious themes. The story takes place on a farm, the inciting incident being the hiring of a “displaced person” (or refugee) from Poland. O’Connor, a devout Catholic, is one of America’s most famous writers, known for her southern stories of grotesque people encountering beautiful grace.

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The Diderot Effect at Christmas

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Who are you? What makes you who you are? Imagine you were inviting someone you just met over to your house. Except that you emptied your house of everything. You just had them come over, sit in a metal fold-out chair beside you. Oh, and your clothes are gone, except for a uniform you had to wear to a job. Now how will you tell this person who you are? How self-conscious would you feel about who they thought you were?

The things we own, the things we use and surround ourself with, become a part of who we are. We let them speak for who we are, even to ourselves. When people gift us with things, they tend to gift us things based on who they think we are. Sometimes they’re right; sometimes they’re wrong.
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